


Stay

by thebookworm17



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluffy as hell, Lily's having nightmares, Mutual Pining, Sleeping in the same bed, Swearing, friends to something more, jily, low key Alice/frank, low key Sirius/Remus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 18:14:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20532407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebookworm17/pseuds/thebookworm17
Summary: Lily has been plagued by nightmares since the beginning of her seventh year at Hogwarts and it's affecting her school work and happiness. One night, by accidentally sleeping in the same bed as James, she realises James is the key to a peaceful night, and James, ever the good friend, agrees to help Lily out.





	Stay

Lily Evans was distracted. 

Repeated late nights from patrolling, mounting piles of homework and nightmares almost every evening were not helping but this was not the main cause of her distraction. 

She didn’t want to be distracted; she couldn’t afford to be distracted but she couldn’t help it either. There was a transfiguration essay sat on the table in front of her that would not write itself and yet she was struggling to put quill to parchment. 

It was all James’s fault. While he wasn’t being loud or obnoxious, the way that had distracted her from her work before he’d matured, and while his equally noisy friends were not around, somehow, he was still causing her grief. 

It was his wrists. 

She couldn’t explain it, but she was struggling to look away. They were slender but strong, gripping the quill as it danced over the parchment, writing the same essay she was futilely attempting. His hands were slender too, but his forearms were bigger, stronger and tight against the material of his shirt which was rolled up under the elbow. 

From where Lily sat on the sofa in the Head’s common room, she had a perfect vantage point that allowed her to watch without alerting her fellow head that she had been repeatedly glancing up from her work. He sat in a plush armchair that he had turned away from where Lily sat to face the large window over the grounds. He had once said that he liked watching the sunset whilst working and had not wanted to move Lily from her own chair that was actually already facing in that direction. 

It was a sweet gesture.

With his feet swung over the side of his chair and his hair haloed by the dying light he looked so calm and angelic Lily sometimes had a difficult time remembering all the terrible things he had subjected her to over the years, the embarrassment and irritation that he didn’t seem to understand at all. 

Granted, he hadn’t been the obnoxious boy she had first met on the train in a long time and they were friends now. He conducted harmless pranks for everyone’s enjoyment rather than ones that resulted in people getting sent to the hospital wing, he teased and joked with her, no longer harassing her with constant requests for dates and she had even spied him helping a young Slytherin boy who couldn’t find his next class. 

Her reflection on his behaviours obviously meant that she had remained looking at him for too long and he must’ve spotted her in his peripheral vision, glancing sideways at her with a quizzical look. 

Instead of looking away which could’ve been construed as a confirmation of guilt she scrambled for a question to ask and glanced down at the half-finished essay before her.

‘Are you understanding any of this because I’m really not getting it.’ She said, picking up the paper and glancing over it, rereading the same words she’d spent the last half an hour grinding out. 

To Lily’s dismay James hauled himself out of the chair, walked round the coffee table that separated them and plopped down on the sofa next to her, taking the essay from her hands and reading it through. 

‘Well you may not understand it but you’ve certainly managed to make it sound like you do, you’ve got the description and the explanation, all you need to do now is make sure you develop on this idea of whether or not the whole theory is legitimate. You can use the witches and wizards McGonagall was talking about in class today to go over whether or not it’s a strong idea. It’s really good you just need a little bit more development.’ He said, handing it back to her with a smile. 

Lily was a little taken a back. She always forgot how good James was at transfiguration and actually listening to him talk about it made her want to ask him more. 

‘Thanks, what did you think of Dalrymple?’ She asked.

Obviously, it was the right question as James launched into an impassioned speech about what an idiot the long-dead wizard had been, turning on the sofa to speak to her face-to-face whilst waving his hands around emphatically. 

Lily had fun playing devil’s advocate, trying to defend the poor old man who really should never have been let anywhere near any transfiguration books and Lily was actually laughing as James argued with her, grinning all the time. 

Somehow the essays were gradually forgotten and her and James were sat on opposite ends of the small sofa, legs crossed underneath them as they talked about many, many things. 

‘You’re full of shit Potter,’ Lily said laughing loudly.

‘No I’m not! He’s an older bloke and his thumb strength cannot be as intense as mine!’

‘I don’t care about the physical ability, Dumbledore would still win a thumb war, I don’t know how he would do it, but he would. You don’t get the title of most powerful wizard in the world for nothing.’ 

Lily completely lost track of time and gradually the conversation became less heated as she struggled to keep her eyes open, head rested against the soft pillows next to her head. 

Being the head students had forced them to become friends and yet Lily had never actually hung out properly with James. She had been taken aback by how much fun she had actually had. 

Yes, she’d been admiring him on more than one occasion lately but that was purely because James Potter was attractive, there was no two ways about that. But while she had been enjoying looking at him, she had never really imagined enjoying spending time with him. Had never imagined trusting him.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

‘Lily?’ James asked softly. 

He had looked away for just a moment to blow out a candle that was beginning to drip wax all over the coffee table and when he had looked back Lily’s eyes were closed. 

He stood, stretched his arms over his head before looking at the unconscious girl, not really sure what to do with her. He didn’t want to leave her here; it would be very disorientating in the morning when she woke up. 

He stooped and collected the fiery redhead up in his arms before beginning to walk towards her room, trying to jostle her as little as possible. He was very glad that he had been practising his wandless magic as it would’ve been difficult for him to open her bedroom door whilst also trying to carry the rooms occupant. After a few tries the door swung open and he ventured in. 

He had never seen Lily’s room, but it matched her perfectly. The room was neat but not obsessively so, possessions were not strewn about the place, but they covered every surface. Several potted plants bedecked the window sill while the vanity was covered in small bottles and bits and pieces. The deep purple walls were covered in moving pictures and on the ceiling stars had been mapped out, lines connecting certain ones to demonstrate the different constellations. There was a desk in the corner heaving with textbooks and bits of parchment and as James lifted Lily over to the bed, he almost tripped over Lily’s cat that was sprawled in the centre of a small rug next to the bed. 

He set her down on the unmade bed as gently as he could, pulling the covers up to her chin and watched as she settled down in the blankets. 

James turned to leave but a hand was suddenly holding his and Lily, in her sleep, muttered something…

‘Stay.’ 

James froze. 

There was no mistaking what the girl in front of him had said, a small, pale hand still loosely clutching his. 

But he couldn’t, it would be weird and creepy, and Lily had only just become his friend. He didn’t want to jeopardise the teasing banter, the common room debates, the laughs on evening patrols. 

He couldn’t deny that he hadn’t wanted her to say things like that to him before, but he had always rather hoped Lily would be awake at the time. 

What if she woke up, not remembering asking him to stay and freaked out? 

He couldn’t stay, he wouldn’t stay, he didn’t want anyone to think he was some kind of sexual deviant, he wasn’t. He could just imagine the howler he would get from his mother if she ever found out he had been accused of sleeping in bed with a girl uninvited. 

He turned to pull away, thinking Lily’s hand would fall.

The hand around his wrist tightened. 

He turned to look at the girl and found one very green eye looking at him before it slowly closed again, and the girl snuggled down into her blankets. 

‘Please.’ 

James was baffled but he crossed round to the other side of the bed, the hand reluctantly slipping from his as he went. Hoping Lily couldn’t hear the pounding of his heart he climbed on top of the sheets on the four-poster bed, loosening his tie and allowing it to fall through his fingers onto the floor. 

He did not get under the covers. He didn’t want to push his luck but the girl in the bed seemed satisfied and shifted back till they were almost touching, the duvet pulled over her shoulder separating them. 

James fell asleep listening to the noise of Lily’s deep, slow breaths. 

When James woke up the next morning, he was groggy and disorientated. He was fully dressed in a bed that wasn’t his own, in a room he didn’t recognise. 

He sat bolt upright in bed when he realised where he was. 

Lily, putting her in bed, the hand holding his wrist, the slow deep breaths. 

She wasn’t on the bed, wasn’t in the room. The school bag, which he had noticed on the desk in the corner of the room, was missing, as were a few of the textbooks that had been stacked on it. 

He fell back onto the bed, running both hands through his hair and holding onto his head trying to work out why on earth he had been so stupid. He had accepted an invitation from a half-conscious girl who was now probably incredibly freaked out and unnerved. No wonder she had left him alone in her room. 

He rolled off the bed and checked his watch, he had 15 minutes till his lesson began.

‘Shit.’ He murmured under his breath before he took off running out of the room straight into his own room across the hall. He grabbed his bag, the books he needed and took off running out of the room, grabbing his transfiguration essay off the table in the common room before sprinting off to charms. 

It was almost a good thing he’d never changed into his pjs the night before, having to change would definitely have made him late. 

As it was, he made it to the lesson by the skin of his teeth. 

‘Woah, what happened to you, you look like shit.’ Sirius said as James jogged up to where the rest of his class where gathered by the door.

‘Sorry, overslept.’ He said back, glancing over the tops of heads trying to spot a redhead. 

‘Yeah we figured,’ Remus said, pulling a slightly squashed bacon butty, wrapped in napkins, out of his pocket and passing it to James, ‘you alright Prongs?’ he asked, taking in the rumpled look, the ravenous appetite as James devoured the sandwich and his scanning of classmates.

‘What have you been up too?’ Sirius asked in a tone of voice that suggested he already had an idea of what James might have been up to and that it was the opposite of innocent. 

Fortunately, James was saved answering by Flitwick opening the door to his classroom and the many students beginning to stream into the room. 

It was at that point that James discovered why hadn’t been able to see Lily in the corridor. She was already sat at her desk, obviously having been talking to Flitwick before the class began and was now beginning to talk to her friends as they sat down next to her. 

For a brief moment James caught her eye, she blushed deeply and then looked away quickly to Marlene who was unpacking her bag next to her. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Lily avoided James for the rest of the day, any class they had together she was careful never to be there too early and she didn’t hang around afterwards. She skipped lunch in favour of the library to actually finish her transfiguration essay and had dinner much later. 

For the most part she managed to avoid him all day.

There had been one moment in charms where Flitwick had asked James where his tie was at which point, he had grabbed his neck seeming to have not realised he’d forgotten it and glanced at Lily. 

She hadn’t realised why this was till she was safely back in her room and seen his tie lying on the floor next to her bed. 

She’d laid it on the back of one of the chairs in the common room to avoid having to hand James the article of clothing herself. 

It wasn’t that she was upset with him for sleeping in the same bed, it wasn’t that she was angry that he had complied to her half-unconscious, delusional thinking. It was more that she was so embarrassed with herself. 

Because she hadn’t realised how much her liking of James had snuck up on her. Buried under layers of denial and sour memories of his behaviour had been a growing interest and wanting for the head boy that was slowly shifted by weeks of realising he had changed, he was more mature, more sincere, more kind. 

Maybe those things had always been there, and they’d been stuck under the image he’d created for himself. 

So, when she’d realised he had tucked her up in bed, that he was there, she had been compelled by the desire for a person she had a genuine connection with to be close to her. 

She also had the best nights sleep that she’d had in months.

Nightmares plagued her constantly; the things that were happening to people like her in the world outside of Hogwarts, and those in it. The last letter she’d received from Petunia, lines of which would go round and around in her head. The fears of failure in all her exams. 

Between all these different thoughts, she hadn’t had a night’s sleep without nightmares in months, some of these were so bad she would wake from them in cold sweats. She’d been struggling to keep up with her schoolwork she’d been so tired.

Until last night. 

So, she’d avoided him all day. Because she couldn’t explain that, because she was embarrassed, because she had no idea what he thought about her. 

Lily Evans had never been convinced that James did actually like her. She believed he had enjoyed the attention, believed himself that he did like her, but he couldn’t have because his constant declarations of love meant that she’d never really allowed him to get close to her. This theory of hers had only been encouraged by the fact that as soon as he’d matured, become more reasonable since the start of the year and as such gotten to know her better, he had stopped with the charade of asking her out at least once a day.

It was ironic that now she might’ve said yes.

Lily pulled on her pjs before falling into bed and as she drifted off to sleep she couldn’t help but note that one side of the bed smelt vaguely of the boy across the hall. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The next day Lily was not so lucky. 

Her sleep had once again been disturbed by nightmares and constant bouts of waking and restless sleep. She was tired and distracted throughout the day and so when it came to the evening she did not consider that James had not been at dinner and marched straight into the common room of their shared living space only to find him on his favourite armchair, turned to face the door, eyebrows raised.

‘You still ignoring me?’ He asked, and while it was clear his tone was aiming for unaffected; she could see in his eyes he was hurt.

‘What? I haven’t been avoiding you, if I was, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now.’ She shot back. 

‘And yet I can tell that if I hadn’t skipped dinner to beat you back here you would’ve continued to avoid me.’ 

Lily looked away trying to avoid those brown eyes.

‘Did I do something wrong? I was only doing what I thought you wanted.’ The hurt was now audible in his voice and it pained Lily in a way she had not expected. 

‘No, you didn’t,’ she replied softly, finally looking up at him again, ‘You didn’t do anything wrong.’

‘So why do I feel like I’m being punished for something?’ He asked.

Lily just shook her head and dashed up to her room before he could rise out of his chair to stop her. 

She had hoped to continue to stay away, to not bother him, to not hurt him, but yet again that night she struggled to reach sleep. The frustration built and built and by 4 o’clock in the morning she was nearly in tears as she tossed and turned. 

Before she knew what she was doing she was walking out of her room, across the hall and into James’s room. 

He was lying on his back, the covers drawn to his waist, his bare chest rising and falling rhythmically with his breaths. One leg fell off the side of the bed filling Lily with relief as she saw he was wearing checked pyjama bottoms. 

The only way this night could get worse would be to get into bed with a naked guy.

If Lily hadn’t been so tired she would want to stare at his chest a little longer.

Instead she gently climbed into the bed, drew the covers up to her chest and closed her eyes, already finding herself drifting into a more peaceful sleep. 

For the second time that week Lily woke actually feeling refreshed and it was sensational. 

Going so long without proper sleep meant that feeling of waking up was actually pleasant rather than dread inducing like usual.

However, as she opened her eyes, she realised she may be in more trouble than she had previously thought.

She was sleeping in a bed fitted with black sheets, in a room with dark red walls, though she could barely tell the colour of the room as every wall she could see was covered in posters and photos. There were posters of quidditch teams, musical bands, even some with political slogans, distinctly magical in the fact that they were moving. One that caught her eye was a black poster with white writing that read ‘What does blood purity matter, we all bleed red’. The word ‘red’ was bigger and coloured the same as its namesake, pulsing erratically against the background. She’d never thought of James being very political, being pure-blooded he didn’t need to be. Lily was also surprised to see some muggle posters for bands like the Beatles, Queen and Pink Floyd. Even more than the posters were the photos. Photos of the marauders, of the Gryffindor quidditch team, of a witch and wizard Lily assumed were James parents. There were everywhere, laughing and waving from all over the room. 

James was sat on the bed next to where she lay, attention focused on a book propped up on his legs which were crossed at the ankle. He kept pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose every so often as they slipped down.

She looked up at him as he read and he eventually glanced over and raised an eyebrow.

‘Good to see you so bright and early in the morning Evans,’ he said and there was a hint of amusement in his eyes that put her at ease. ‘Come on, I missed breakfast because I didn’t want to miss you and now I’m starving, let’s go get some food from the kitchens. Please don’t run off on me.’ The tone of voice he spoke the last sentence in had just enough of an edge to let her know that if she valued the friendship they had begun to build she would agree to this or risk hurting him too much.

‘Okay then.’

Minutes later Lily and James were walking through the corridors down towards the Great Hall. Few people were in the halls owing to the fact it was Saturday and most people were sticking in their common rooms due to the rainy October day. 

‘You know, I’ve never been to the kitchens,’ Lily said as they walked along, ‘I didn’t ever really consider it was a place you could go until your lot were bragging about having found it.’ She teased.

‘Brag? We never brag, we’re a humbled group, me and my pals.’

‘Mm hmm, sure, I totally believe that, 100%.’ 

‘I personally find your tone of voice insulting and your words hurtful.’ He said in a voice of mock sadness.

Lily laughed as they came into a room filled with portraits of food and watched fascinated as James tickled the pear in the fruit bowl and it tuned into a handle. 

Suddenly she was in a room of amazing smells, hundreds of tiny elves coming forward to greet them and ask what they wanted. James placed a hand on the small of her back as he guided her over to a table, telling the elves what they needed, before seating himself opposite her on the table and allowing her to take in all her amazing surroundings.

James was watching her look around over the top of a teacup and she looked down to see a cup for her too. Before she could even ask she was being buried with food and she thanked every elf she could before digging in. 

They chatted through breakfast about many different things and just as Lily thought she may be safe from the conversation she had been dreading James pushed away the plate in front of him and folded his arms looking straight at her. 

‘Fine,’ She sighed. ‘Recently I haven’t been able to sleep very well, either I can’t get to sleep or I sleep really restlessly and have loads of nightmares. I’ve been struggling with my school work because of it. At first, I started using dreamless sleep draughts, but you can get addicted to them and I didn’t want that. I’d had about three hours of proper sleep for the last two nights before…’ she trailed off.

She didn’t want to say the words ‘we slept together’ and instead made a vague hand motion between the two of them. 

‘And then you stayed with me and I had the best night’s sleep I’ve had in months, and when I tried to avoid you they came straight back and I knew I couldn’t take it anymore and that’s what happened last night.’ She finished kind of lamely. 

James didn’t say anything for a while, he just looked down at the table and Lily had no clue what he thought about it all.

‘Lily you should’ve told someone you were struggling, the whole point of having friends is you don’t have to suffer alone. You could’ve told me, I would’ve understood, I would’ve tried to help.’ He said finally looking up at her.

‘We’re friends?’ She asked with a wry grin.

‘Of course we are.’ He said with such a genuine smile that she couldn’t help smiling back. 

They’d become closer ever since they’d become heads, when James had matured a little and Lily had gotten a chance to actually know him better, but it wasn’t until now that she understood James actually considered her a friend. 

At that moment Sirius and Remus toppled through the door to kitchens, a hand around each other’s waist, giggling like school children. 

James looked up and grinned.

‘Are you two idiots already drunk? Its barely noon!’ He said as they wandered over, Sirius looking between James and Lily with raised eyebrows.

‘Sirius is just an idiot,’ Remus said with a smile, ‘we can go eat elsewhere if we’re interrupting.’ He said giving James a look Lily couldn’t decipher and ignoring Sirius’s distressed moans at the idea of missing out on food.

‘Shut up and sit down,’ James said with a laugh, ‘Why are you eating so late?’ 

‘I could ask you the same thing.’ Sirius shot back with an amused look before Remus jabbed him in the side with an elbow.

He yelped and glared at the other boy.

‘Where’s Peter?’ Lily asked. It was unusual to see just three of the Marauders, they usually came as a set. 

‘Well that links into why we’re having a late breakfast. Me and Moons decided to have a little lie in, and Peter decided he had some homework to do elsewhere pretty quickly, I think he’s still in the library.’ Sirius said with a grin as Remus blushed, James laughed and Lily smiled down at the table, picking at a half-finished croissant.

‘Poor wormy, yeah sometimes I miss you guys, having my own room and all, and sometimes I really don’t.’ James said still smiling. 

Sirius threw a bit of toast at him and he laughed again.

Lily liked the fact he smiled so much. She thought he did it more than any of her other friends. 

‘But does Jamey-poo miss having his bestest fwends,’ Sirius said pouting his lips ‘maybe we should drop by for a sleepover at some point.’

Lily thought Sirius might have caught the quick look James shot at her, judging by the slight narrowing of Sirius’s eyebrows, before he began to gently let his friends down on the idea of a big slumber party. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Lily felt incredibly awkward as she stood in the common room in her pyjamas. 

James looked up from his book and smiled at her.

‘Do you mind…’ She trailed off vaguely and waved her hands towards her room, but James was confidant where she was more wary, and he smiled and stood up. 

‘Sure, I’ll just get changed and come over.’ He said and she smiled gratefully before retreating to her room. 

As she climbed into bed, she reflected on the fact that it was ridiculous to feel awkward about this situation. She had slept in the same bed as James now twice and yet there was something more formal and serious in actively inviting him to bed. 

He instantly put her at ease once he actually joined her, taking a running jump from the door into her bed and face planting the pillows with a groan, making her laugh.

‘Dork.’ She muttered. 

‘Hey,’ he responded indignantly, as he rolled over onto his back, ‘I’ll have you know I’m very cool, some might even say suave.’ 

‘Some would not say suave, no one says suave, jeez Potter are you secretly 70 or something.’ She said with a laugh 

‘This is the curse of living with much older parents, a flawless and wide vocabulary that none of the other youths of the day will appreciate.’

‘Wow, I feel like I’m being called stupid in a very polite way.’ Lily said, eyebrows raised.

‘Mrs Potter always taught me to be polite.’ He replied with a shrug.

‘Yeah I’m sure.’ 

‘I must warn you I am now going to remove my glasses and will effectively become blind. I can now no longer protect you from any harm and will rely solely on you to save me from any danger.’ He said as he placed his glasses on the bedside table on his side.

‘Oh no, how will I cope,’ She responded in a deadpan voice, ‘no big strong man.’ 

‘I’m glad you think I’m big and strong.’ He said, eyes closed, and hands tucked behind his head. 

‘You’re incorrigible.’ Lily muttered back, suppressing a laugh. 

‘Ooooo, and you tell me off for my fancy language!’ James responded.

‘Well I’ve also got old parents.’ She said shaking her head.

They settled back into comfortable silence and Lily couldn’t believe she’d ever thought he’d make this awkward. She hadn’t been friends with James long, but they’d become friends fast and she didn’t regret it for a second. 

She looked over at him and frowned.

‘What are you doing?’ She asked. 

‘What?’ 

‘Get under the covers you weirdo, you’re gonna get cold.’ She said.

‘You sure.’

‘Of course I am.’ She said, and in response he pulled the covers over himself. 

Lily instantly felt warmer and calmer and better and she rolled over to flick the bedside lamp off before closing her eyes and drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

Marlene stared at Lily. 

Lily was talking to Potter. To Potter. James Potter.

Quite honestly Marlene never thought she’d see the day.

She was pleased. She’d been friends with James since they’d both been chasers on the Gryffindor quidditch team. She’d understood that James was an immature boy with a crush when Lily hadn’t, and she’d been able to roll her eyes at both James behaviour and Lily’s response.

But since Lily and James had both been made head they’d been forced to work together and obviously it had done them good. They’d become friendly.

Very friendly. 

Mary Macdonald sat down next to her at the breakfast table and said hello to Marlene and Lily. Lily did smile and reply to Mary before launching back into her argument with James who was sat next to her on the other side of the table. 

‘All I’m saying,’ James began, ‘Is that as my surname is Potter, AKA a person who makes pottery that means I can reasonably describe myself as a dish.’ He finished by winking at Alice Prewitt. The girl laughed at James’s flirting and then rolled her eyes with a smile as Frank wrapped a protective arm around her waist. It was clear that while he was grinning at James he was also being warned not to have any ideas.

‘And all I’m saying,’ Lily said, ‘Is that by your own logic you can also be described as a mug.’ And with that she got up and left the table with a smug smile 

Remus laughed as James frowned and chased after her out of the Great Hall.

‘Have you noticed how different they’re acting?’ Marlene asked as she turned to Mary.

‘Hun, the whole fucking school has noticed.’ She said with a laugh.

‘Me and Frank have a bet on about how long it’s going to be until they finally get together.’ Alice said with a grin.

‘Thank fuck it’s not just us.’ Sirius said, looking between Remus and Peter to the rest of the group. 

‘Did you see them yesterday?’ Mary asked.

‘See what?’ Frank asked.

‘Okay, so Lily’s got this bad relationship with her sister, right? At least that’s what we think because she never talks about it and never lets anyone see the letters she gets sent from her.’

The group seemed to draw closer to Mary as she told the story.

‘So yesterday we’re sat at breakfast and this owl comes for Lily and drops this letter and I can see Lily getting upset as she reads it, but James notices too. So, I ask if she’s ok and she puts on this brave face like usual, but James is still looking at her, right, and then this like proper look with a capital ‘L’ happens between them and she lets him read the letter.’

‘No fucking way.’ Marlene breathed.

‘Is this a big deal?’ Sirius asked the group at large and Lily’s friends nodded. 

‘Imagine if Snape started washing his hair.’ Remus said with a small smile and Sirius snickered.

‘Right so then Lily gets up from breakfast pretty quick after the whole letter thing and then later on I see her again and James is giving her a piggy back to history of magic and she’s laughing. She’s never in a good enough mood on the days she gets letters from her sister to laugh.’ Mary finished.

‘Maybe we’ve been bad friends.’ Alice said.

‘No, she’s always asked for space and we’ve given her it, she deserves her privacy, if she decides to tell James that’s fine but it’s not our fault.’ Marlene interjected. She couldn’t pretend she wasn’t slightly hurt that her friendship with Lily of seven years had been outshone by her friendship with James of a few weeks 

‘They must be banging,’ Sirius mused, ‘Ow!’ he yelped and rubbed at the shoulder Marlene had just punched.

‘Don’t be a dick.’ She responded.

‘It’s an occupational hazard.’ Peter said and Sirius glared at him.

‘Well one thing is for sure, they won’t tell us what’s going on.’ Remus said.

‘Why do you say that, don’t you guys have some kind of bro code not to lie.’ Mary asked.

‘Bro code?’ Sirius asked with raised eyebrows and Mary rolled her eyes.

‘You know what I mean.’

‘They won’t tell us,’ Remus continued, ‘because they won’t know themselves, whatever is going on they haven’t defined it otherwise they’d be more sure of themselves and if we ask about it it’s only going to put their backs up and confuse them. We’ve just got to sit it out and wait.’ 

‘Remus the dating expert.’ Marlene said with a smirk.

‘Out of you and me Marlene, which of us is the one with the boyfriend?’ Remus asked with a smile.

‘Oh come on, that was below the belt.’ Marlene laughed as Sirius high fived Remus.

‘The only issue is, if we don’t push them, they may never sort themselves out.’ Peter added.

‘Don’t you dare interfere,’ Alice said, ‘they’re obviously happy with whatever’s happening, until that isn’t true anymore if I hear any of you screw this up you’ll have me to deal with.’ She finished and pointed her wand at each of them in turn.

‘Scary,’ Frank said with a smile before pulling her off towards class, ‘come on you can’t hex anyone before 10 in the morning.’

‘I didn’t realise I was scared of Alice Prewitt till just now.’ Sirius said, watching the two retreating figures.

‘Well you heard the woman, do what she says, and you won’t have a problem.’ Marlene responded.

‘Looks like we’re gonna have a problem then.’ Sirius said with a grin. 

They’d been having such a quiet evening when it happened.

Lily was sleeping better than ever; her schoolwork was no longer suffering and her friendship with James was something she hadn’t even realised she’d been missing.

They’d been sat on the squashy sofa in the heads common room, Lily finishing off some rune translations while James had been building a tower of cards out of an exploding snap deck. 

One second she’d been correcting a misspelling that had been bugging her all day and the next there had been a flash and the smell of singed hair. 

When the puff of smoke dissipated, she couldn’t help bursting out laughing at the stunned look on James face, not helped by the fact that his eyebrows had turned soot black. 

Lily only laughed harder at the look of horror that came across James’s features when he went to rub his face and his eyebrows crumbled away.

‘Lily stop laughing this is an emergency! What will I do? I can’t leave the room looking like this, how will I get to Pomfrey?’ 

Lily was tempted to let him stew in his own despair for a moment but eventually between hiccupping laughs she flicked her wand and James’s eyebrows were restored. 

Lily was still laughing when he had finished checking his eyebrows in the back of a spoon that he had found in the bottom of his bag.

Suddenly he was kissing her. 

It was sweet but very short and he pulled away quickly. 

‘I had to find a way to stop you laughing, now didn’t I?’ He said in response to her shocked look. 

Despite the confident words there was a vulnerability in his eyes that she didn’t like.

She was reaching across the space between them, grabbing his tie and pulling him towards her before she knew what she was doing.

Their lips crashed together, and she was in heaven. 

It was soft and warm but passionate, and she didn’t know how long she was there, locked in that embrace, but she didn’t care. 

It could’ve been hours or seconds later that they pulled away properly and judging by the state of Lily’s tangled hair and slightly swollen lips she would’ve guessed the former.

‘You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that.’ James murmured to her, his forehead resting against hers. 

‘You might be surprised by how long I’ve wanted that too.’ She whispered back slightly breathlessly. 

He kissed her again and it was sweet and slow and Lily felt so warm and fuzzy in her chest she didn’t want the moment to stop.

‘Lily, would you like to go on a date with me sometime?’ James asked her after pulling away once again.

‘Hmmm, I don’t know, I’m very busy so I’d have to move my plans around a bit.’ She said with a smile and James groaned.

‘Trying to date someone as sarcastic as you are is going to be a trial isn’t it.’ 

Lily laughed.

‘Just what every girl wants to hear, that dating them is a trial.’ 

‘I can think of some things I want to do that aren’t a trial.’ James replied and kissed her again. 

Lily decided that she agreed with him. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Sirius was a man of his word. 

He had promised a surprise slumber party for James, so James was getting a slumber party. 

That was mainly how things worked in the group’s relationship, one of the four would make a ridiculous remark and the others would all go about trying to make it a reality, like the times Sirius had declared his desire to take McGonagall to the Jupiter ball. Detention had been worth the barely concealed amusement on ‘Minnie’s’ face. 

So, Sirius had rounded up Remus and Peter and then began their trek over to the head common room. 

It would’ve been easier with the help of James cloak but between their extensive knowledge of sneaking around the castle after dark and the marauder’s map they managed to make their way over without any problems. 

Sirius muttered the password under his breath and led the way into the room before stopping dead at the sight before him, ignoring the yelps of surprise from Remus and Peter as they crashed into the back of him.

‘Oh my god.’ Muttered Remus quietly at the sight of the two heads of house asleep on one of the large sofas, their arms wrapped around each other as they slept, Lily’s head resting on James’s chest, rising and falling in rhythm with his breaths.

It was all very calm and serene, until…

‘I KNEW IT!’ Sirius yelled so loud that Lily’s head shot up and James’s eyes flew open. ‘I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT!’

‘Yeah I think we get that you knew it.’ Lily said with a groan before flopping back down onto James’s chest. 

‘You were both acting so weird and there was something funny going on, why have you two been keeping secrets?’ Sirius demanded.

‘In our defence we literally only decided to actually start dating about an hour ago.’ James muttered blearily, rubbing at his eyes.

‘Make them go away James.’ Lily murmured, her eyes flickering shut.

‘Don’t worry, I’m on it Lil’s.’ Remus said as he began dragging a spluttering Sirius towards the door.

‘We have to talk about this!’ 

‘They’ll talk tomorrow when they’re both awake, come on Pads, give them a rest.’

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Once the boys had managed to drag Sirius from the room Lily felt James move above her slightly and then felt him press a soft kiss into her forehead.

She smiled, drifting off into a peaceful sleep.

A/N That’s the end lads, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
